Wilderness Heroes

Linda and her daughter on a wilderness trail in Alaska

Today, as she looks at the map of Arizona, Linda McNulty takes real satisfaction in the numerous wilderness areas already protected across the state, for her fingerprints are on many of these wild places.

Growing up in Massachusetts, Linda’s grandparents told her stories about the wide open spaces they’d visited in the West. With a nursing degree in hand, she set off, driving across the country with her parakeet protected with wet towels over its cage. Nearing Tucson, she saw the saguaro cactus and knew she’d found her new home.

Wilderness Hero George Duffy

Ask any of the staff at the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance (NMWA) about George Duffy, and the response is always full of enthusiasm. George, a retired U.S. Forest Service employee, walked into the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance office in Albuquerque one day, and asked to be put to work. Bringing with him decades of experience, he was soon advising staff, sharing his broad knowledge of wilderness issues, and providing inspiration.

Fifteen miles east of Bend, Oregon, lies an area of rugged beauty, its harsh desert terrain filled with natural rock formations, Native American pictographs from a bygone age, lava flows, desert flowers, and hardy juniper trees twisted by the winds that sweep across the land.

Roy and Betsy Miller in Gold Butte

Although they don’t have much interest in being the center of attention, Betsy and Roy Miller have garnered a lot of notice for the work they have done to protect one of Southern Nevada’s most treasured wild places — Gold Butte. Located between the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, Arizona, and Lake Mead National Recreation Area, just south of the City of Mesquite, Gold Butte is named for an early 1900s settlement that was little more than a tent city of a thousand miners.

The conservation and wildlife community lost one of its strongest advocates and most outspoken supporters with the recent passing of Tony Dean. Dean was an easy-going, even-tempered sportsman from South Dakota who stood up for and spoke out on issues in which he believed. And one thing he believed very strongly was that conservation was fundamental to good hunting and fishing.

Commissioner Randy Eubanks

Reading Randy Eubanks’ bio, you might not immediately think he’s a dedicated supporter of community open space, smart growth, and responsible mining. But this former submarine sailor and nuclear industry professional, now a Commissioner in Larimer County Colorado, works for many good causes, including protecting wilderness in Rocky Mountain National Park.

John Seiberling taking a photo in the Cuyahoga Valley

John F. Seiberling often explained that in preserving land, we preserve something of ourselves. One generation sends an enduring message to its successors about what it holds dear.

These are the words of an editorial eulogy published in his hometown newspaper, the Akron Beacon Journal, after Congressman Seiberling’s death, at 89, in early August.